Michal Horacek
Michal Horacek (born in Prague, on July 23, 1952) is a Czech entrepreneur who made his fortune in the gaming industry, as well as a lyricist, poet, writer, journalist and producer.
Horacek never joined the Communist Party. After being accepted in 1970, he was expelled by the communist authorities from the Faculty of Social Sciences and Journalism of Charles University and received a suspended prison sentence for travelling to the USA without the proper permission. He has told Ballotpedia he would do the same thing over again, calling it “one of the most important deeds in my life because I tried to lead an authentic life and pursue my idea of happiness”.
He has never been a member of any political party, nor run for any political position, though was active during the Velvet Revolution that brought down communism. In 1989, Horacek co-founded the Most (Bridge) Initiative, whose aim was to mediate dialogue between independent citizens’ initiatives and the then communist government of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.
In the post-communist years Horacek took advantage of his experience in gaming and co-founded the limited company Fortuna, which was the first bookmaker in Central and Eastern Europe. As chairman Horacek grew the business into a billion-crown company with operations in three countries. In 2004, he sold out for a reputed CZK100 million ($4.6 million) and has spent the time since studying and writing. From 2007 until 2010, he was chairman of the Czech Academy of Popular Music.
Horacek was a candidate for president of the Czech Republic. The election took place from January 12–13, 2018. Horacek did not advance to the runoff election, which was held from January 26–27.
On the trail
Campaign Finance
Horacek announced his intention to run for the presidency on November 3, 2016 and gained the requisite 50,000 signatures in May 2017.
As per new rules over the financing of political parties and entities, Horacek opened a compulsory transparent bank account for the presidential election, into which a maximum of CZK40mn ($1.8mn) can be garnered with a further CZK10mn possible for the runoff. As of October 16, 2017, the transparent account held CZK2,156,041.
Advisers & Staff
Head of media and spokesperson, Jiri Taborsky.
Polls
As of October 2017, there are no polls that include Bostik’s candidacy.
| Czech Republic Presidential Election, 2018 | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poll | Milos Zeman | Michal Horacek | Jiri Drahos | ||||||||||||||||
| Medea Research August 18-27, 2017 | 42.25% | 17.12% | 19.05% | ||||||||||||||||
| Focus August 14-28, 2017 | 28.1% | 12.4% | 13% | ||||||||||||||||
| AVERAGES | 35.18% | 14.76% | 16.03% | ||||||||||||||||
| Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org. | |||||||||||||||||||
On the issues
Domestic Policy
Horacek developed “nine major themes” for his potential presidency, such as remaining politically neutral by not cultivating ties with any one party and not getting embroiled in any power conflicts between the presidency and parliament that “rejects the letter and the spirit of the Constitution of the Czech Republic”. The former president and his predecessor, Vaclav Klaus, notably interfered in the day-to-day workings of the government that some claim was in contravention of the constitution. Other campaign themes Horacek promised to explore were: education, poverty and vicious circles of social exclusion, equality between women and men, and transport infrastructure.
Horacek also drew up “The first 100 days of President Michal Horacek”, which showed on a daily basis what actions he would take in the first 100 days in office.
One of Horacek’s signature campaign promises was to provide relief from the fines being levied on debts in income taxes as well as those on social and health insurance. This one-off general pardon would have only applied to the fines and penalties imposed on individuals for the money they owe to the state, but would not have applied to the debts themselves. The general pardon would have been declared on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Czechoslovakia.
“A number of such claims are irrecoverable anyway and these debts lasting for years prevent people from returning to the common economy so they are not able to pay taxes and the state thereby loses much money undoubtedly. It often happens that a petty little debt rises exorbitantly to unpayable high sums because of the penalty," Horacek told Ballotpedia, adding that his proposal would benefit many people, harm no one and has the backing of Members of Parliament across the political divide.
Foreign Policy
Horacek strongly supported the traditional Euro-Atlantic orientation of the Czech Republic with regards to the European Union and Nato.
“We are part of the euro-Atlantic cultural scene… This is where we belong, where we have always belonged, and the success of the European Union is our success. The fight every day to work to improve the European Union is good for us and we must join in this and be reliable partners – we are not at the moment, I’m afraid,” he told Ballotpedia.
This and other reported comments were thinly veiled attacks on the current President Milos Zeman for his cozy relations with China and Russia and his critical attacks on the EU and US.
“Our last two presidents have been carrying on as if they didn’t understand who our partners and allies are – sometimes I feel that the Czech Republic will become a Trojan horse for other actors on the international scene, namely the Russian Federation and China. But these are not our partners, they are not our allies, so their interests cannot be more important for the Czech Republic than the interests of our allies,” he told Ballotpedia.
Yet on the migrant crisis and topic of immigration from Muslim countries, Horacek was more in tune with that of Zeman and the rest of the country, hardening his rhetoric against the quotas that the EU was trying to enforce over the redistribution of refugees around the bloc. He stressed that the Czech Republic is not xenophobic and noted how in the past the country has been generous with its asylum policy, taking in more than half a million fleeing the repression in the Soviet Union, the Balkan wars of the 1990s, and more recently many Vietnamese and Ukrainians.
Political savvy
Character
Horacek sold himself as the transparency candidate: his campaign slogan was “Radically straightforward, radically transparent”. On his website, he even included his lustration certificate (lustration is the purge of government officials once affiliated with the communist system in Central and Eastern Europe).
As a wealthy man, Horacek claimed he did not need the backing of any political party and would not be beholden to rich corporate sponsors or any other backers. He referenced the victory of the self-made businessman Andrej Kiska in next-door Slovakia, who against all expectations in 2014 became the focus for many of those disgusted with the main parties and beat the then favorite, left-wing Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.
In person, Horacek appeared very sure of himself and confident in his own abilities and viewpoints, predicting that despite the incumbent Zeman’s strong lead in the polls, whichever candidate advanced to the second round of the election would defeat the president. Like Jiri Drahos, he bemoaned the tone of the political debate under Milos Zeman’s presidency for the past four years and promised a less confrontational approach and gentler choice of language if he won the election.
Personal
Horacek has a son and a daughter with his first wife Rut Horacek. He also has a daughter with his second wife Michaela Horáčková. He lives in the small North Bohemian town of Roudnice nad Labem. “I have chosen such a life after careful consideration. In Roudnice nad Labem I am closer to the people and to their real life, which is also my own,” he said.
Recent news
See also
Footnotes
